After deciding to start work on a coffee table, I began pulling out the stash of small veneer pieces that I keep in my bench. These are not whole flitches, or even whole bundles, just pieces left over from jobs over the years that I have never had the heart to throw out.

I quickly sketched out a top which will be 40"x20" and here in the shop it looks sooo small but gives me a great opportunity to use some of the wonderful veneer that I rediscovered inside my bench. I realized how easy it is to forget the wonders that one has stored away!

The Walnut Burl, some pieces already book-matched to create a wonderful pattern; the Ebony pieces that I had used for curved samples; the Movingue, subtle yellows with wonderful figure; the Olive Ash Burl that I had built dozens of tables with in the Biedermeier style.

I am a bit overwhelmed and very excited about the choices set before me on my bench, reminding me of the culture of plenty that I am so fortunate to live in.